QPR ‘need help’ despite recent upturn – Cifuentes

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Marti Cifuentes insisted QPR cannot afford to get complacent after extending their unbeaten run to six matches.

Paul Smyth’s equaliser earned Rangers a point in a 1-1 draw at Bristol City, who dominated much of the game and had most of the possession.

And head coach Cifuentes says it is important the club are not fooled by the recent upturn in which his side have climbed off the bottom of the Championship table and out of the relegation zone.

The Spaniard said: “I’m extremely proud of the guys and the way they work.

“But the reality is that football is so ruthless we need to keep improving and hopefully everybody inside the club understands that.

“Now we look at the table and look at the results and everybody might think ‘It’s going to be fine, Marti, it’s fantastic’, (but) we need help, we need to keep improving.

“We’re going to have a bad trend again – hopefully not as bad as it was at the beginning of the season – and we need to keep improving at the club.

“I’m not satisfied about the (lack of) possession we had today. I’m not satisfied about the amount of injuries and I’m not satisfied about the things we need to improve.

“Now comes a very important part of the season and we need to keep improving.”

Asked if that meant bringing in new signings when the transfer window opens next month, Cifuentes replied: “It might be, but that has never been my main focus.”

After Scott Twine’s free-kick opened the scoring, Rangers hit back with their first attempt on target. It came after an excellent counter-attack – and some comical goalkeeping – following a Robins corner.

Jonathan Varane cleverly released Smyth on the right-hand side, keeper Max O’Leary bizarrely charged towards the halfway line and the Rangers wide-man took the ball past him before superbly sweeping it into the net from a tricky angle 35 yards out.

Cifuentes said: “I learned a new English expression this week, which was to ‘grind it out’ – and that’s what my team did today.

“The first-half display was not good enough against one of the best sides in the league when it comes to energy and counter-attack.

“So I have mixed feelings over the game. We have to be better than we were in the first half and there is work to do to make that happen.”